Back around 1989, there was a comedy/music video show that I used to watch Saturdays at 1am on WXII channel 12 in Winston Salem NC. It was called Tel-Star. It was hosted by an overweight comedian named Doug Gilmore. He told corny jokes and played the popular videos of the day. He also had skits with old comics like Professor Erwin Corey and Al Lewis (Grandpa Munster). I tried to look this show up on IMDB and could find no record of it. I Goggled every thing I could think of involving this show, and couldn't find one thing in the results that related to this show. This was a really bad show, and I could understand why the producer's would want to deny the existence of it. It was a guilty pleasure of mine and I would like to hear from anyone who ever watched it, because I know I didn't imagine it.

Is the television station still in existence? If so, you might be able to write to them and get some information.

When I was a kid, I remember kiddie shows on local TV affiliates. I'd love to see some photographs or clips from these shows. One was called DICKORY DOCK. I believe the host was supposed to be an old clock maker or something. There was another one called BUNKER HILL. I think the host of this one was supposed to be a train engineer or a clerk at a small train station or something. These were on TV around 1969 or 1970. I believe DICKORY DOCK was on channel 27 in New Hampshire and BUNKER HILL was on channel 56 in Boston.

Logged

"Do not walk behind me, for I may not lead. Do not walk ahead of me, for I may not follow. Do not walk beside me either. Just pretty much leave me the hell alone."

Is the television station still in existence? If so, you might be able to write to them and get some information.

When I was a kid, I remember kiddie shows on local TV affiliates. I'd love to see some photographs or clips from these shows. One was called DICKORY DOCK. I believe the host was supposed to be an old clock maker or something. There was another one called BUNKER HILL. I think the host of this one was supposed to be a train engineer or a clerk at a small train station or something. These were on TV around 1969 or 1970. I believe DICKORY DOCK was on channel 27 in New Hampshire and BUNKER HILL was on channel 56 in Boston.

I found BUNKER HILL with Bob Glover here: scroll down to MASSACHUSETS-

WNEW 5's (now Fox 5) had Creature Features that was on from the early 70's to it's cancellation in 1980. It was hosted by Lou Steele, aka "The Creep" and featured a great opening and some good old classic B monster movies as the night's event.

It was our Saturday night event at the house.

It's amazing how many people don't remember this show, esp in the Tri-State area, and esp. New York, it's home base! I called Fox 5 once and they didn't even remember it, save for the older folk, one or two of who recognized it. I would love to see the opening of the show once more, and to see "The Creep" in action!

It amazes me that in the digital age we live in I can't find info on this show or it's host anywhere online. Not IMDB, not Wikilipedia, and Google results only show Doug Gilmour the hockey player. "Telestar" was not a local show, it was a nationally syndicated.

66Crush, I can confirm for you that Tel-Star did air. I watched it has a kid. Don't know why i put up with watching it since sometimes they would cut off the videos or start them almost half way but when you grew up in the country with no dish you have to deal with what you can get.

It amazes me that in the digital age we live in I can't find info on this show or it's host anywhere online. Not IMDB, not Wikilipedia, and Google results only show Doug Gilmour the hockey player. "Telestar" was not a local show, it was a nationally syndicated.

There are a few reasons for this.

First, the "digital generation" has a distinct focus on what is current to them. Wikipedia and IMDB (as two examples) are heavily "biased" toward more contemporary items. Unless something is of larger social significance, if it's older, it just does not get the attention from online savvy users.

Second, it takes work to go back and research the older stuff and enter it in. Like you are finding, hunting down solid info from a show 20 or more years ago may not be so easy. Now, everything is "out there." Shows have their own web sites, and a lot of wp entries (for example) are nearly cut n paste from there. Again, unless it made a large social/cultural impact, the info itself is not readily available.

You MIGHT try starting a wp or imdb page on the show and seeing if you can get others that recognize it to add info. That's one of the nice things about the crowdsourcing concept; resources do get pooled.

Finally, tvguide.com does seem to have some info for it. This I found with a simple Google Search:

Some DO know of the show, but yet many don't. WNEW 5's (now Fox 5) had Creature Features that was on from the early 70's to it's cancellation in 1980. It was hosted by Lou Steele, aka "The Creep" and featured a great opening and some good old classic B monster movies as the night's event. It was our Saturday night event at the house. It's amazing how many people don't remember this show, esp in the Tri-State area, and esp. New York, it's home base! I called Fox 5 once and they didn't even remember it, save for the older folk, one or two of who recognized it. I would love to see the opening of the show once more, and to see "The Creep" in action!

Man, it's amazing how hard it is to communicate with the young. Even (once) common phrases like 'Wooden Indian' or 'Record player' zoom over their heads like a meteor in Russia.You tell a joke that requires they know a particular word...and you get the cow eyed looks and the bland 'Huh?'

Man, it's funny I found your post. I've been wondering for years what happened to Doug Gilmore and Telstar. Like you I've Googled everything I possibly could have to find him or any info on the show. I remember, just as you, watching it on WXII on Saturday Nights. I guess I was around 14 years old but I remember Al Lewis being on there (one particular rant he went on about "Remember, you heard it here first"), as well as the video's from the Bangles, Def Leppard, Samantha Fox, and all the popular acts from that period. I also remember a segment on the show called "Celebrity Video" in which they profile, well, a celebrity in a video.

Man, it's funny I found your post. I've been wondering for years what happened to Doug Gilmore and Telstar. Like you I've Googled everything I possibly could have to find him or any info on the show. I remember, just as you, watching it on WXII on Saturday Nights. I guess I was around 14 years old but I remember Al Lewis being on there (one particular rant he went on about "Remember, you heard it here first"), as well as the video's from the Bangles, Def Leppard, Samantha Fox, and all the popular acts from that period. I also remember a segment on the show called "Celebrity Video" in which they profile, well, a celebrity in a video.

Remember when they showed Debbie Gibson's Electric Youth, and in every video afterwords they would go to picture in picture with a sample of Debbie saying "it's electric!" Lol. Good times.